I wrote yesterday about the deteriorating state of our written language. I would like to address that again today. I will include a list of words, their respective parts of speech, and use them in a sentence. I might also include a way that the word is typically misused or misspelled. Here goes.
Ridiculous (adjective) - causing or worthy of ridicule or derision.
They laughed at the girl's ridiculous outfit.
This is probably one of the most misspelled words in the English language. It is an easy one to confuse, but seeing it is comparable to stabbing myself in the eye with a hot poker. Rediculous is just ridiculous.
Your, and You're. Folks, this one is easy, but another very common mistake.
You're is a compound word, comprised of you and are. You + are = you're. See?
Your makes reference to possession. Your car. Your dog. Your homework. Your misuse of the word your. I really don't think I need to say anymore on that.
Their, there, and they're. Once again, spoken the same, spelled differently, different uses.
Their, similar to your, denotes possession, i. e., don't laugh at their dog because he is sensitive. Or, their car broke down.
There shows location. She walked over there. Don't go there! There can also be used as such: There are three left.
They're is another one of those tricky, elusive compound words that no one seems to get. They are is more often than not shortened to they're. So there.
And last for this blog is my personal favorite, lose versus loose! Nothing gets under my skin more than seeing someone using loose in the place of lose. They don't even sound the same!
Example: You tied them too loose! If you don't retie your laces, you're going to lose your shoe.
Loose (adjective) - free or released from fastening or attachment.
Lose (verb) - to misplace, or to come to be without, or to fail to achieve victory.
Please, think about this a little less loosely before you lose my attention. See what I did there?
At any rate, I've had enough already. Just writing about these things is making my skin crawl. I need to get some much needed sleep. Good night all.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Diatribe #1
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There comes a time in a man's life when he feels it necessary to be noticed, to have his voice heard, to connect with people not in his inner circle on a deeper level. In today's information hungry society, he creates a blog. And so, feeling the pull of the internet's limitless possibilities, I have done just that.
This is my first blog, but I feel that it is not unlike posting on a social website. But what does one blog about? Do I tell you about my day? Do I recount the day's events so that you can see what it's like to see things through my eyes? I don't have these answers. Perhaps I am creating this blog to learn more about myself. Perhaps I am searching for others who share my views and interests. Who knows these things if not I?
I suppose I should write about something, so write I shall. For this first post, I think I'll write about what's on my mainframe, which is what I like to refer to my mind as. I suppose I should do that every time. Time will tell. Now we come to the part where I tell you all about the various processes currently being executed in my mainframe. There is a laundry list, and at the top is giant robots. Human controlled giant robots to be exact. Giant robots probably seem out of place in this particular blog, but that's what I'm thinking about. Having spent the last six years of my life in the U.S. Army as a tanker, I have come as close as one can to controlling a giant robot. It's an awesome feeling, but I often find myself peering into the vast unknown of the future and imagining technologies that don't exist and probably won't in my lifetime. Thinkers will think, but that doesn't do them any good most of the time, not unless they possess the skills required to bring their dreams and machinations to fruition. When it comes to giant robots, I don't have said skills, so thinking about them is all I get to do. Shame really. Wouldn't it be something to create and control a giant robot that started out as nothing more than a seedling of a dream? One could think all day on the subject, but, as stated before, not having the skills required to build a giant robot, thinking isn't getting me any closer to one. Perhaps I should just stop thinking about them. Seems prudent.
I don't really have much else going on in my mainframe. It's fairly late, and while I have been likened to a demi-god in the past, I am a mere mortal, with all the trappings of a mortal life. Specifically, work. I suppose this was sufficient for a first blog. Some of you might be thinking, "What a strange man," but I assure you, this was meant to be humorous, well, for the most part. I do think about giant robots. And so, I will leave you with this. Feel free to leave a comment and strike up interesting conversations. Perhaps I will blog about them. Oh, also, I feel like our nation's written language has gone down the proverbial pipes and this will not do. The situation needs to be rectified and while being one man with no followers yet, I can hardly do anything to fix this travesty. However, I will, at the end of each post, leave a word, grammatical rule, or writing technique for you all to consider. If at any point in your life you encounter a situation where you can use what you learned from reading this blog, my life will no longer lack meaning or depth. I will have made a small ripple in the ocean of human connection, but ripples can indeed turn into waves.
Word of the Day: Aspire (verb) - to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value.
Used in a sentence: The young boy aspired to become an astronaut.
Too often do I see this replaced with "inspire, inspired, inspiring". No. Never again.
This is my first blog, but I feel that it is not unlike posting on a social website. But what does one blog about? Do I tell you about my day? Do I recount the day's events so that you can see what it's like to see things through my eyes? I don't have these answers. Perhaps I am creating this blog to learn more about myself. Perhaps I am searching for others who share my views and interests. Who knows these things if not I?
I suppose I should write about something, so write I shall. For this first post, I think I'll write about what's on my mainframe, which is what I like to refer to my mind as. I suppose I should do that every time. Time will tell. Now we come to the part where I tell you all about the various processes currently being executed in my mainframe. There is a laundry list, and at the top is giant robots. Human controlled giant robots to be exact. Giant robots probably seem out of place in this particular blog, but that's what I'm thinking about. Having spent the last six years of my life in the U.S. Army as a tanker, I have come as close as one can to controlling a giant robot. It's an awesome feeling, but I often find myself peering into the vast unknown of the future and imagining technologies that don't exist and probably won't in my lifetime. Thinkers will think, but that doesn't do them any good most of the time, not unless they possess the skills required to bring their dreams and machinations to fruition. When it comes to giant robots, I don't have said skills, so thinking about them is all I get to do. Shame really. Wouldn't it be something to create and control a giant robot that started out as nothing more than a seedling of a dream? One could think all day on the subject, but, as stated before, not having the skills required to build a giant robot, thinking isn't getting me any closer to one. Perhaps I should just stop thinking about them. Seems prudent.
I don't really have much else going on in my mainframe. It's fairly late, and while I have been likened to a demi-god in the past, I am a mere mortal, with all the trappings of a mortal life. Specifically, work. I suppose this was sufficient for a first blog. Some of you might be thinking, "What a strange man," but I assure you, this was meant to be humorous, well, for the most part. I do think about giant robots. And so, I will leave you with this. Feel free to leave a comment and strike up interesting conversations. Perhaps I will blog about them. Oh, also, I feel like our nation's written language has gone down the proverbial pipes and this will not do. The situation needs to be rectified and while being one man with no followers yet, I can hardly do anything to fix this travesty. However, I will, at the end of each post, leave a word, grammatical rule, or writing technique for you all to consider. If at any point in your life you encounter a situation where you can use what you learned from reading this blog, my life will no longer lack meaning or depth. I will have made a small ripple in the ocean of human connection, but ripples can indeed turn into waves.
Word of the Day: Aspire (verb) - to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value.
Used in a sentence: The young boy aspired to become an astronaut.
Too often do I see this replaced with "inspire, inspired, inspiring". No. Never again.
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